Vampire Villanelle

This curse of darkness is my plight,
for all eternity meant to roam
doomed alone to walk the night.

Human chains have bound me tight.
Without even Death to call my own,
this curse of darkness is my plight,

endless, forced to dread the light,
and I the tomb must call my home.
Doomed alone to walk the night,

I saw my bride gowned all in white,
laid bloodless, broken, still as stone-
this curse of darkness is my plight.

Driven by lusts I could not fight
beyond the touch of all I've known,
doomed alone to walk the night,

an un-dead thing, unholy blight!
A sinner reaps what he has sown:
this curse of darkness is my plight,
doomed alone to walk the night.

© 1996 Lucidscreamer

Notes: Barnabas POV, in case that's not obvious. ;) A villanelle is a short poem of fixed form, written in tercets, usually five in number, followed by a final quatrain. They are also bloody difficult to write. Just so you know. Published here for archival purposes.

Previously published in Lords of Eternal Darkness, The World of Dark Shadows, The Collective 'Zine, and Chained Eternity. (Not all at the same time, obviously.) LoED and Chained Eternity were small press magazines that focused on original vampire fiction, poetry and art. TWoDS and TCZ are/were Dark Shadows fanzines.